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The new AirPods can be charged on Qi chargers, that are available on Amazon for $10. No one bought wireless charging AirPods because of AirPower.

by thamer 8y ago

tunesmith 8y ago
What's the downside of Qi chargers? (Assuming they didn't figure out some hardware problem that Apple couldn't figure out.)
- crooked-v 8y ago
  There isn't a specific downside. AirPower was an attempt to add additional functionality by letting you just dump stuff on the charging mat, while all current charging pads require one device per section and a specific orientation.
- stingrae 8y ago
  They typically charge devices slower than the wired approach and I find it is sometimes hard to place a phone in just the right spot where it charges. What Apple was doing that was hard, was to charge multiple devices at a time on a single pad without having set locations.
  - chrischen 8y ago
    Fast chargers should charge faster than the default 5 watt wired charger.
- mikestew 8y ago
  I'll state up front that my experience with Qi is from about five years ago with a Samsung Note 3 with a Samsung induction charging case. But I found it to be fiddly enough (have to hit the sweet spot on between the charger and the coils on the case/phone) to be just barely more convenient than plugging in. My impression of what AirPower was supposed to do was allow me to just throw my shit on the nightstand charging mat and the phone, watch, and earphones just magically charge without fiddling. Not being a hardware engineer, my impression was also that, in order to pull this off, involved big, hot coils and Apple couldn't get rid of the "hot" part. So now the solution is to buy separate Qi pads for phone and earphone case, and I still need a proprietary charger for the Watch because it doesn't use Qi. Or just say "fuck it", and plug my phone and old AirPods case into the Lightning connectors I already have by the bed, and use the Apple Watch charging stand I already bought. In summary, I'm one of those that would have spent the $200 on Apple kit if they could have pulled it off because I don't find Qi to be quite the solution I was looking for.
  - vbezhenar 8y ago
    I'm using Xiaomi charger with iPhone 8 and it's exactly this: I just put phone there without any kind of aligning and it just works. Wonderful product, something so much in Apple style. Single device only, of course, but it's cheap enough to buy as many of those circles as needed. And it's barely producing any heat. May be they compromised charging speed, I'm not sure, I just put it there for night.
  - swozey 8y ago
    They're way better now, but I specifically only buy the Samsungs with fast charging that have a fan built in. I have to really mangle how it's put on the charger (like half of the phone hanging off the edge) to have any issues. I've got a few of these for my old s8 and s10 and they work great. Only downside I can think of is when my battery is low and I need to keep taking the phone off the charger to respond to something, at that point I just cable it in so I can use it and charge at the same time. It's also of course not as fast as cabled fast charging so if I'm very low I'll cable it. That's not incredibly frequent but does come up every few weeks. I love them at my desks but I use cables everywhere else as I'm usually grabbing my phone to use it (like in bed).
    - Baeocystin 8y ago
      I have one of those for my S8+. It's nominally better in terms of positioning tolerance than the old Qi charger I had for my Droid, but not by much. I still have to have the phone within a couple of millimeters of the left-right sweet spot for it to work. I'm glad I have the charger, but it's still pretty fiddly. Maybe it has a wider range if you don't use a case, so that the back of the phone is closer to the mat. Aside to those considering: it charges noticeably slower than the straight plug fast charge, but still faster than the old, non fast charge systems.
  - int_19h 8y ago
    I have the official wireless charging stand for Pixel 3, and FWIW, it doesn't seem to have problems charging it even if the phone is visibly tilted and off-center on the stand. But perhaps that's exactly why it's a stand and not a mat - there are only so many ways to put a phone on it such that it stays there.
- izacus 8y ago
  Qi is the standard AirPods and iPhones support to charge themselves wirelessly - it's like asking what's the downside of a lightning port :)
phinnaeus 8y ago
> No one I did. I don't want to add another cable to my nightstand, I wanted to replace my Apple Watch puck with Airpower and gain the ability to charge my headphones there too, and then if I ever get a wireless charging iPhone be able to get rid of the lightning cable as well. I don't mind trading the lightning cable between my phone and Airpods, but I imagined I wouldn't have to for long with the AirPower releasing seeming so imminent. I feel like a sucker today.
- Bud 8y ago
  Nomad makes a very very nice nightstand charger that will do all that for you. https://hellonomad.com/products/base-station-apple-watch https://hellonomad.com/products/base-station-apple-watch I don't have this version, but I have their other base station that charges up to 4 devices at once: 2 wirelessly, and 2 via cables. I'm extremely happy with it. https://hellonomad.com/collections/power/products/base-station-hub https://hellonomad.com/collections/power/products/base-stati...
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- chrischen 8y ago
  You can return them to Apple for a full refund. Please update us if you do.
  - threeseed 8y ago
    Narrator: He won't.
  - sofaofthedamned 8y ago
    Pretty pathetic response. When did Apple turn into the sort of company their fans used to laugh at? This feature was planned and advertised. People buy based on these things. I'd love a Apple wireless charging mat. I also like their Watch. Charging the lot of them would maybe move me from Android. Oh no! It's disappeared. Steve Jobs would never have put up with this.
hartator 8y ago
Actually did. I’ll try to use of the alternative then. What Qi charger you recommend?
- thamer 8y ago
  I have this one, and really like it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C40OG22/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C40OG22/ref=oh_aui_sear... – it costs $10.99 and has anti-slip rubber on its surface. I also own another that has a completely smooth surface and my phone tends to slide off.

The new AirPods can be charged on Qi chargers, that are available on Amazon for $10. No one bought wireless charging AirPods because of AirPower.

by thamer 8y ago

The new AirPods can be charged on Qi chargers, that are available on Amazon for $10. No one bought wireless charging AirPods because of AirPower.

tunesmith 8y ago

What's the downside of Qi chargers? (Assuming they didn't figure out some hardware problem that Apple couldn't figure out.)

crooked-v 8y ago
There isn't a specific downside. AirPower was an attempt to add additional functionality by letting you just dump stuff on the charging mat, while all current charging pads require one device per section and a specific orientation.
stingrae 8y ago
They typically charge devices slower than the wired approach and I find it is sometimes hard to place a phone in just the right spot where it charges. What Apple was doing that was hard, was to charge multiple devices at a time on a single pad without having set locations.
- chrischen 8y ago
  Fast chargers should charge faster than the default 5 watt wired charger.
mikestew 8y ago
I'll state up front that my experience with Qi is from about five years ago with a Samsung Note 3 with a Samsung induction charging case. But I found it to be fiddly enough (have to hit the sweet spot on between the charger and the coils on the case/phone) to be just barely more convenient than plugging in. My impression of what AirPower was supposed to do was allow me to just throw my shit on the nightstand charging mat and the phone, watch, and earphones just magically charge without fiddling. Not being a hardware engineer, my impression was also that, in order to pull this off, involved big, hot coils and Apple couldn't get rid of the "hot" part. So now the solution is to buy separate Qi pads for phone and earphone case, and I still need a proprietary charger for the Watch because it doesn't use Qi. Or just say "fuck it", and plug my phone and old AirPods case into the Lightning connectors I already have by the bed, and use the Apple Watch charging stand I already bought. In summary, I'm one of those that would have spent the $200 on Apple kit if they could have pulled it off because I don't find Qi to be quite the solution I was looking for.
- vbezhenar 8y ago
  I'm using Xiaomi charger with iPhone 8 and it's exactly this: I just put phone there without any kind of aligning and it just works. Wonderful product, something so much in Apple style. Single device only, of course, but it's cheap enough to buy as many of those circles as needed. And it's barely producing any heat. May be they compromised charging speed, I'm not sure, I just put it there for night.
- swozey 8y ago
  They're way better now, but I specifically only buy the Samsungs with fast charging that have a fan built in. I have to really mangle how it's put on the charger (like half of the phone hanging off the edge) to have any issues. I've got a few of these for my old s8 and s10 and they work great. Only downside I can think of is when my battery is low and I need to keep taking the phone off the charger to respond to something, at that point I just cable it in so I can use it and charge at the same time. It's also of course not as fast as cabled fast charging so if I'm very low I'll cable it. That's not incredibly frequent but does come up every few weeks. I love them at my desks but I use cables everywhere else as I'm usually grabbing my phone to use it (like in bed).
  - Baeocystin 8y ago
    I have one of those for my S8+. It's nominally better in terms of positioning tolerance than the old Qi charger I had for my Droid, but not by much. I still have to have the phone within a couple of millimeters of the left-right sweet spot for it to work. I'm glad I have the charger, but it's still pretty fiddly. Maybe it has a wider range if you don't use a case, so that the back of the phone is closer to the mat. Aside to those considering: it charges noticeably slower than the straight plug fast charge, but still faster than the old, non fast charge systems.
- int_19h 8y ago
  I have the official wireless charging stand for Pixel 3, and FWIW, it doesn't seem to have problems charging it even if the phone is visibly tilted and off-center on the stand. But perhaps that's exactly why it's a stand and not a mat - there are only so many ways to put a phone on it such that it stays there.
izacus 8y ago
Qi is the standard AirPods and iPhones support to charge themselves wirelessly - it's like asking what's the downside of a lightning port :)

phinnaeus 8y ago

> No one I did. I don't want to add another cable to my nightstand, I wanted to replace my Apple Watch puck with Airpower and gain the ability to charge my headphones there too, and then if I ever get a wireless charging iPhone be able to get rid of the lightning cable as well. I don't mind trading the lightning cable between my phone and Airpods, but I imagined I wouldn't have to for long with the AirPower releasing seeming so imminent. I feel like a sucker today.

Bud 8y ago
Nomad makes a very very nice nightstand charger that will do all that for you. https://hellonomad.com/products/base-station-apple-watch https://hellonomad.com/products/base-station-apple-watch I don't have this version, but I have their other base station that charges up to 4 devices at once: 2 wirelessly, and 2 via cables. I'm extremely happy with it. https://hellonomad.com/collections/power/products/base-station-hub https://hellonomad.com/collections/power/products/base-stati...
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
chrischen 8y ago
You can return them to Apple for a full refund. Please update us if you do.
- threeseed 8y ago
  Narrator: He won't.
- sofaofthedamned 8y ago
  Pretty pathetic response. When did Apple turn into the sort of company their fans used to laugh at? This feature was planned and advertised. People buy based on these things. I'd love a Apple wireless charging mat. I also like their Watch. Charging the lot of them would maybe move me from Android. Oh no! It's disappeared. Steve Jobs would never have put up with this.

hartator 8y ago

Actually did. I’ll try to use of the alternative then. What Qi charger you recommend?

thamer 8y ago
I have this one, and really like it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C40OG22/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C40OG22/ref=oh_aui_sear... – it costs $10.99 and has anti-slip rubber on its surface. I also own another that has a completely smooth surface and my phone tends to slide off.